Pharmaceutical pioneer Trek Therapeutics, PBC, (Trek) a privately-held, clinical-stage, public-benefit, for-profit corporation that is developing affordable and accessible proprietary treatments for infectious diseases, was featured in a Pharmafocus article detailing new technological approaches to pharmaceutical cold chain challenges. The article reported on the recently announced partnership between Trek and Ambrosus to apply integrated sensors coupled with blockchain-based technology to pharmaceutical drug manufacturing in Trek’s clinical development program. Trek Co-founder and CEO, Dr. Ann Kwong, was quoted extensively in the article, “Securing the cold chain with new solutions.”The article was published in the October 2017 issue of Pharmafocus (http://bit.ly/2hmHHYJ, page 22), a “monthly pharmaceutical, biotech & healthcare news publication for the UK, Europe and worldwide”.

Trek was introduced in the Pharmafocus article as a prime example of a small company as an early adopter of new technologies, in this case harnessing the potential of the blockchain technology.

Trek has partnered with Ambrosus to develop processes to manage data sharing and tracking of complex pharmaceutical product life cycles as they move from manufacturer to distributor to patient and to help to eliminate concerns of tampering or counterfeit product. In the article, Dr. Kwong noted, “Our aim is to develop a method to provide greater assurance to regulatory authorities, providers and patients that the medicines they regulate, prescribe and buy are excellent quality.”

Combining high-tech sensors, Blockchain, and powered by smart contracts, Ambrosus is building the world’s first publicly-verifiable, community-driven ecosystem to ensure the quality, safety, and origins of essential products, such as medicine, food, and commodities. As part of the collaboration, Ambrosus will conduct pilot projects with Trek to monitor the quality, safety, and integrity of all stages of the pharmaceutical manufacturing process.

Dr. Ann Kwong said, “We are extremely gratified to be featured in the Pharmafocus article which highlights new pharmaceutical technologies. Trek’s mission is to provide cost-effective, affordable, and accessible drugs to treat patients that suffer from infectious diseases, starting with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, and we are excited to explore with Ambrosus what blockchain technology has to offer as a means to reach these goals.”

Trek Therapeutics, PBC is a privately-held, public-benefit corporation developing treatments for serious infections. Its mission is to provide cost-effective, affordable, and accessible medicines to treat patients that suffer from infectious diseases and commercialize them for global populations. Since the company’s founding in 2014, Trek has raised US$10M in Series A funding. Trek’s management team and board of directors are comprised of seasoned drug- development executives from Vertex, Schering Plough/Merck, Pharmasset/Gilead, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Roche, Celgene Global Health, Idenix, and Genzyme.

About Trek Therapeutics
Trek Therapeutics, PBC is a private, clinical stage public benefit corporation developing treatments for serious infections. Its mission is to profitably develop affordable and accessible medicines to treat infectious diseases and to commercialize them for global populations starting with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Its commercial strategy is to price their treatment regimen low enough to include the majority of patients infected with HCV who cannot afford the expensive treatments available today. Trek is currently raising Series B financing to support the completion of its Phase 2a program and initiate its Phase 2b studies. Trek is examining the possibility of a listing on the Euronext Growth and other markets. For further information, please visit http://www.trektx.com/.

About Ambrosus
Founded in 2016 by Angel Versetti and Dr. Stefan Meyer, Ambrosus is the world’s first publicly-verifiable and community-driven system to assure the quality, safety, and origins of products such as food and pharmaceuticals. Officially endorsed by SQS (Swiss Quality and Safety Association), Ambrosus boasts the support of significant global bodies and associations including the United Nations, EPFL, the Crypto Valley Association, and financial backing from the Government of the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland. With an underlying ERC20-standard token called Amber, Ambrosus completed a token sale in September 2017 serves to fuel the development of the Ambrosus ecosystem. For more information, or to see technical papers for Ambrosus sensors, marketplace, and non-invasive analytics, visit http://www.ambrosus.com.